ANDREW JOSIAH SARKON.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11491, 26 January 1903, Page 4

ANDREW JOSIAH SARKON.

Br F. Swift. There were singular people on the Overly Saddle W«rt, but I know of none who could put Andrew Josiah Sarkon into the shadow. He lived alone with a few dry cows and a traded horse or two, and had the greatest number of lives behind him for a man of forty or any eingl© person I had ever known. My object, lam sorry to say, wa« to do him good. Whitt greater mistake can anyone commit than to try to do a singular person good? By all means give the tramp bread and the millionaire a friendly seat at your table, but be cautious how you expose younsi-lf to the beseeching humility of the man who asks only for tton use of your ear.

From time to time Jcxsiah travelled down to the pljin from the desolate eminence of Overly Saddle West, and tben Lβ wouM stop at my house, sometimes for a meal, sometimes for a day or more. Hβ neve? - would sleep in the # house, but kept a. roll of blankets in the barn for these occasions. I rather enjoyed him. for his stories, but more especially whenever he was about I felt a certain sense of sustaining righteousness at the knowledge of feeding a man with yood bread and btef who dwelt painfully and hungrily alone on the West barrens, i was certain that no harm could come to me or my household while I burned this incense to hospitality.

"I was once a stage driver in California.' , said he one evening, placing his feet careiully on the cushion of a. neighbouring chair, while the ebildien gathered about him. and my wife smiled in from the next room indulgently. "siy route was a difficult one, ana ascended over the StonedrJpple Pass. Tliat was before the summit Inn waa built, and passengers had to carry lunch and eat it at the top of the poes while the horses rested. It was a fine spot for hold-ups, and the lone highwayman seeking opportunities to rise in society was not likely to pass that excellent business location by. One day he appeared with a mask on ha face, and the poliu-uese of an unmarried parson in his voice. As soon Oβ the passengers saw him coming in the dastance they held up their hands ac if touched by * common current of electricity, while he «edat«ly sounded their packets, telling the women to fear nothing and n<-t to scream t and walked off with 375d01. Hβ waws very young, for there were no wrinkles in has neck

•'I was impressed by this transaction. My salajy for driving sixteen bourn a day and iuisistinj; abuut the Lorsets at both ends of the niglu was sixty dollars a month. 1 ]Ti/fd th-e position because of its cultivating iriflutuces The familiar association wit to ladies and gentlemen which accompanied it I believed would repair an absence of early educational advantages from which I had frequently .suffered, if I listened attentively to ail that was said. Yn I had Several vourig broti;ei*> whom I desired to send to collie, particularly one who had .-*et his hetu'i. on the pulpit, i saw a way to do good. "The scenery around the SUawdripple Summit wu* pleasingly adapted to tb* plan

which I formed to take the liotses out o the ?wt> and lead them inio a wJuinp 01 trees to teed, in wrtiuse seclusion I changed mv clothes and nwked my face. In tine dilutee I mad* a email circurt and emerged .vuddt-nlv upon my passengers with a large revolver" in hand. They behaved well,and upon counting the proceed* I found them to be 500dol. and a costly diamond ring. 1 had not wanted rims but a gentleman forced it upon me a* a voluntary condition for sparing his life. I was not so fooiieu a* to «cwte mv clothes for the detectives to discover, but carried them back to the stage iv one of the grain bags which tlie horses had emptied. -On the remainder of the journey the passengers were naturally very much excited and conversed about the colour of the highwayman's hair and bis lieigut. Opinions varied as to his height between five and fceven feet, while all agreed ttat his hair was short and red. Mine was long and yellow. "About 'a month after I repeated the enterprise with greater eucceps, for then 1 blew open the Wells Fargo box and secured 2.000 do!. The country was thoroughly scoured with bloodhounds and San Francisco detectives, and the city papers save out long accounts of ilie remarkable clues and how the robber escaped. He was wen by a large number of farmers, some oi whom fed him at the point of a pistol. The posse tracked him to the foot of Mount Shasta, which he ascended, and once had him surrounded in a house, but he took the farmers pietty daughter, with whom all the detectives were secretly in J°ve. mto the saddle with him and rode away at breakneck speed with this protection. Her father begged the officers not to ehoot, which they had no idea of doing, for fear of killing the girl, so the villain escaped. "For some time after this speculation I was quiet, but the love of fame and "success at length broke out anew. I did not deserve much in this instance for I neglected to study my passengers beforehand. There w?s among "them a man that I could plainly see, afterwards, was a. United States Marshal. It stuck out all over him and even his pockets were full of it, if I had looked. Success always blinds one to obstacles. Well, as I came jauntily forward from my retreat I didn't take the trouble .to point my gun at the company, but just dangled it in my hand where it could bo eee-n. Generally this is enough, and it shows consideration for the ladies. Before I could do anything a fellow in the stage put his liead out. with a long-bar-relled bix-shcoter pointed straight in my face, and ordered ma to drop my gun. I felt extremely unhappy, and so numb that I was unable to comply with his request ; f?o paralysed, in fact, that a moment after, when a "loud report occurred and 1 knew for a certainty that he had put a bullet through me, and that I was as good as d«id, I was unable to fall down.

"My feelings returned and the haze cleared from my eyes when I heard a voice wihich I seemed to remember order the marshal to get out and empty his pockets. It was the voice of tho delicate young highwayIran who had held us up the first time, and he had fired tho shot and knocked the marshal's big revolver out of his hand. Tlie presence of this officer convinced us tliat there was good money in the express box, and I blew it open while the other fellow soothed the pastttngers and comforted the marshal. We found 20,000d01., which we divided between us, presenting the marshal 50dol. apiece with a request to keep quiet about the hold-up for the cake of ni& family and friends.

"My young friend said we must go 'n opposite directions for greater flafety, and we bade a hearty good-bye. "That marshal was the hottest man 1 met in California, When I the six horses up he demanded one of them in the name of the Government to ride on baivbucked to the next town for help, and J gave ham one that never let a man sit on bis than half an hour at" a time. With my pulling capacity thus crippled 1 had an excuee for slow progress, and, besides, I took a nut off -one of the bolts, so thai by-and-by we had a breakdown, and v hen we finally caught up with the marshal, sitting by the side of the road where he luul been thrown, he was madder than he had been before. The horse bad run off out of sight, and we reached the next town four hours late. "I ihought this wWld certainly allow my accomplice to get away, but it did not. He was captured with, the money, and eentenced to tifteen years. The eound of this wasn't pleasant, tso I didn't venture another Itoldup, and abandoned driving after a suitable time. Merely going back and forth over •the pass and answering the came questiens of tourists had grown stale. A comparatively rich moo is bored where a poor one i« glad to be spoken to." "Didn't you try to get the fellow who had saved your life out of jail?" asked my young son of cix, who warf leaning devotedly against Sarkon's knee. "That was unnecessary," answered Sojkon. "He was a perfect ehot, and ran »o risk when lie rescued me. It was better than shooting the marshal himself, which he might 'have had to do if I hadn't been tihere. And then I probably saved his life, for if I hadn't come up first the officer would have had him where he liad me, and might have ehot him. I also took my brothers into consideration. I educated them with the ten thousand dollars, and they are all useful men." "What an incredible villain he is!" exclaimed my wife, when Andrew Josiah had gone off to the barn and we were preparing to retire. "I shall never feel safe with him again when you are not here, and I wish that fifteen hundred dollars were out of the house now. I think you ought to sit up and guard it all night. Do you suppose Sarkon knows that the money was paid to you this afternoon?" "My dear," cried I, "Sarkon's stories are pure inventions. He has told us a. thousand astonishing situations in which he figured as the man with horns, and I do not believe he was ever in a single one of them. We are much safer in having Jiim

at the burn ; he would help us if anything happened. I don't deny, though, that, Ciouvse beliaved Tery oddly in demanding that, I should take the money when I h»/J asked for a cheque, after it wae too late to get into town to deposit it. But he* naturally contrary." Maria, continued to be nervous, but I laughed at her and, to show my unconcern, went to sleep. She says that she kept awake until after two, so that it must have been nearly three When I was awakened by a rough shake and found three men in the room. Then I operated a little contrivance which I had invented to call up my hired men, who sometimes stayed on the place over-night and slept in the bam from preferer.ee, to be near the horses. I ha-d put an electric bell in the barn near wher* Sarkon slept, which could be rung by pulling a cord, and for greater convenience 0:1 cold mornings I had extended this cord into the bed. This device was now very useful, for I could pull the cord and set off the bell without the burglars knowing that I was doing it. Having done this T felt quite secure, since Sarkon, who was alone in the stablee that night, would soon be on the-scene to frighten the intruders away.

The men tad removed mr Winchester, which stood at the head of {he bed, and, being helpless against so many, I suffered myself to be bound -without resiiitaEce. and counselled Maria to do the same, in order r/ot to awaken and frightea the children. Having tied me. they commanded m*i to tell them the whereabouts of the money I had received that day, placing a weapon against my temple to assist my memory. It- was death to resist, and. as Maria said it wae foolish to die for fifteen hundred dollars, and I knew isarkon would be up before they could dig it out, I told thtia* the place—in the cellar under a barrel of potatoes, buried about ivro feet. I had secreted the shovels, and it did take com« time to scrape out the dirt with their hands, and yet no Sarkon appeared^ They got the money and dfptuted. leaving us tied. Then 1 eoftly tailed to my elde.«t son of nine, who oa-mt? in his nignigown with big eyes, and cut the ropt, while I cautioned him not to sny anything away from home, and thus spoil a good piece of detective work I had been thinking about.

Tiwre was .no doubt in my ndnd -who two <rf th« robber* «••». Tbig could onfr

be the two Crouses. I -had just sold them a piece of land worth twice the money for fifteen hundred dollars.-, to get them out M the neighbourhood where I lived. They were evil-minded people, and I did not want my children to grow up near theirs to imbibe their immorality., J was oa~enM what my children heard. Their purchase was several miles away, and tiiey were going to live c-n it. Of course, they were two of the burglars, for they wouldn't let Mich a" chance slip. Was Sarkon the third? I was debating this question to myself when, to my complete surprise, the man himself came unconcernedly in to breakfast. I preserved my composure and remarked, "I rang for you last night, Sarkon. My wife was til, and I thought we should want you to ride into town for the doctor."

"I am a deep sleeper,"' replied the enigma, "and I didn't hear you." H« was in high spirits, and began one of those unfailing stories about himself. My wife could cot stand that, and rose from tiie table, taking the children with her. When she Jiad .Andrew Josiah Sarkon drew out a. wallet, which I recognised as mine, and laid it on the table.

"Count it," iu> said, with a triuaiphant flourish. The- money of which I had been robbed was ■wi'i-hin.

"Sarkon," 1 demanded, "where did you come t>v this?"

'• I was the third man," said he. '" Wlien I left the house last night it was so dark that if you walked fast you had to push against it. I hadn't gone far before 1 heard some voices talking low, and 1 stooped down by a bush, hoping not to bs wen. I heard enough to know what they were up to. and then tried to creep off to give you warning They started at the same time and stumbled over me. They were going to stab me, but 1 said, ' See here, I know the inside of that house and you don't. Three men can do a slicker job than two. Give me a couple of hundred dollars and I'll see you through with it, and you won't need to,commit murder. ,.

"It struck them just right and I took the lead. I saw I could protect you from violence by being there, and probably get your money back. You weren't likely to tackle three men, but you might have risked it with two, if they had been clumsy, and the Crouses are clumsy. Then they would have killed you, certain. I got the Winchester out of your reach before we woke you up, to protect your life.

" After the thing was done I showed the fellows that suspicion would settle right on them because they were hard cases, and the only ones that knew you had the money about you, and I advised them to let me keep the plunder until the search calmed down. As a friend of the family, I said, I shouldn't be suspected. They promised to kill me if I played traitor, and gave the stuff into my care. So hero it is. ,.

"Sarkon," cried I, with great emotion,, " you are a noble man. You have certainly preserved my life by placing your own in danger. These ruffians will kill you when they know what you have done. I shall get them into the penitentiary on your evidence, and then you will be safe."

"Don't do that," responded Sarkon, meditatively, " for such characters nevei forget, and when they come out they will kill us both. You have your money, and you can afford to let the matter rest. I will drop out of sight, and that will be the end of ifc. Of course, they won't suspicion that I've restored the money, ami you'll be protected."

The generosity 'of my preserver coming fresh on the excitement of the night undid my nerves, and I acted on the impulse oJ the moment, without consulting Maria.

" Tho fifteen hundred is- yours," I criea heartily. "You shall not suffer for your unselfish bravery. You are poor, and I am well off; take it and go where you can be safe and prosper."

He thanked me effusively, restored the wallet to his pocket, and took up liia hat to go.

'" Sarkon," I called after him as he moved off, "we are something more to each other than mere friends now; seriously, were you in those stage robberies?"

" Upon my honour, I was," returned he; "that story"was true."

Whenever I met the Crouees after that I could see that they looked terribly black and beaten.

About a year later a poor wretoh was lodged in the 'town " cooler" for drunkenness, who eaid he had business with me. He was hardly out of his booze when I entered the gaol, but he was very secretive and would talk to me only in private. He said that a year ago he and a road partner were footing it along near my place when a "gent" whom lie pictured so accurately that I recognised Sarkon in the first sentence—theme is but one Sarkon in this world—turned up suddenly from behind a stone fence and informed them that they could pull a hundred dollars apiece that night by helping him do a house. Being hard up and hungry they consented, and •had done their part, but the crook never paid them. They hadn't taken him for a sharper and had trusted him. As I was the man they had robbed, " it looked as if when you went to the bottom of the thing that I was responsible for what they had lost," and they thought I ougjbt to make it up to them. But for his part >he would let me off for half of the amount, and would agree to carry his partner's share to him. I made the rascal describe minutely what had happened in my 'house the night of the robbery, so that there could be no mistake, and then paid his passage to South Africa, wlwre he promised to enliat— circumstances whioh I did not think well to mention'to Maria, for she does not believe In war.

Shortly after, I read in the courthouse news that Andrew Josiah Sarkon had paid oft' the mortgage on his Overly Saddle West ravines. He had returned, and when I met him in town started forward to grasp,my hand. But I passed him by without speaking. There are times when the humanity in me seems frozen.

I am not a man of r.erves in the usual sense, yet from that day I failed to enjoy my house. I seemed to feel that Sarkon from his hill was looking down on me. Hfc possessed the strange charm of being ;i member of the family without your wanting him. I knew that he would return to <iur hearth in spite of uh. And there was Maria, a year older than formerly, who ousht at her time of life to be shielded from harassing details. Her recovery fiom practical affairs is sometimes: slow. In response to a reasonable offer for my properties made at that time I sold out and moved away.